Of course, the magistrate has taken them, the old man answered, hesitatingly.
I havent seen either the handkerchief or the cap, yet I can tell you how they are made, the reporter said to him gravely.
Oh, you are very clever, said Daddy Jacques, coughing and embarrassed.
The handkerchief is a large one, blue with red stripes and the cap is an old Basque cap, like the one you are wearing now.
You are a wizard! said Daddy Jacques, trying to laugh and not quite succeeding. How do you know that the handkerchief is blue with red stripes?
Because, if it had not been blue with red stripes, it would not have been found at all.
Without giving any further attention to Daddy Jacques, my friend took a piece of paper from his pocket, and taking out a pair of scissors, bent over the footprints. Placing the paper over one of them he began to cut. In a short time he had made a perfect pattern which he handed to me, begging me not to lose it.
He then returned to the window and, pointing to the figure of Frederic Larsan, who had not quitted the side of the lake, asked Daddy Jacques whether the detective had, like himself, been working in The Yellow Room?